Down the Primrose Path
by penstroker
Summary: Based on Peter's unusual behavior, Neal draws a conclusion that may have far-reaching consequences.
1. Conclusions

DOWN THE PRIMROSE PATH

Disclaimer: I don't own White Collar, Elizabeth, Peter or Neal.

Friendship with Peter Burke was a mine-field that Neal Caffrey was still negotiating even as their tentative professional partnership blossomed. It wasn't a lack of self-confidence that kept Neal's fist from pounding on Peter's front door, but an increasing apprehension that this conversation would implode a friendship that he was just now beginning to rely on. '_But_,' he reasoned with himself as he knocked tentatively on the door, _'I'm not the one running the con this time'_.

As he heard footsteps approaching, he watched anxiously as his taxicab's taillights disappeared from view. He was able to take one last deep cleansing breath before facing his quarry.

As the door swung open, he pasted on one of his patently phony smiles, "Hello Elizabeth".

"Neal," Elizabeth Burke looked a little perplexed as she scanned over both his shoulders and determined that he was alone. He had removed his fedora and was twirling it around in his hands. Suddenly her bewilderment turned to alarm as Neal's smile faltered and his expression turned grave.

"Is it Peter?" she asked breathlessly, a panicked expression on her face.

"No...yes...I mean, no," he hurried to reassure her, "Peter is fine." He mentally added, _'As far as I know'_.

"Don't scare me like that," El exhaled in relief as she playfully slapped Neal's arm. In a calmer tone she queried, "Where is Peter anyway?"

Neal conjured another pleasant smile, "I'm not sure. He took off early today."

"That's funny," Elizabeth replied in genuine surprise, "He didn't mention it to me this morning."

Neal didn't respond, his eyes focusing on the interior of the house. It didn't take a genius to realize that Neal was searching for something and was unhappy at his failure to find it.

"Do you want to come in?" she offered politely. At his positive nod, she ushered Neal into the dining room where they took seats opposite of each other. They shared an uneasy moment of silence.

"I need a glass of water," Neal laid his much beloved hat on the table and jumped up, heading for the kitchen, "Don't worry. I'll get it myself."

El contemplated following, but having just lectured her husband on trusting Neal, she kept her seat and busied herself with shutting down the laptop she had been working on. She didn't even comment when the conman returned to his chair without a glass. There was a discouraged, almost dismayed look to his face.

"How was your trip?" Neal's question, apparently coming from right field, confused Elizabeth even more.

"You know I haven't been out of town in over a month," she replied cautiously, "Neal, be straight with me. What's going on?"

For a few long seconds Neal refused to meet her eyes, tracing the brim of his hat repetitively with his right index finger. He sighed, seemingly resigning himself to a conversation that now he regretted.

"Do you trust me?" his soulful gaze met her concerned one, "Trust me when I say that you are my friend and I wouldn't want to intentionally hurt you?"

"Yes," she replied unhesitatingly.

Neal's gaze never wavered, but he took in a long slow breath, summoning every ounce of courage, before divulging the conclusion that he had come to earlier in the day, "I think Peter is having an affair".


	2. Evidence

Elizabeth reacted so swiftly that Neal had no chance to deflect her oncoming palm. **_Slap_!** Neal raised his hand to rub his now stinging left cheek.

"Get out of my house," she ground out each syllable as she rose from her chair, her knuckles turning white as they grasped the edge of the table.

"El," Neal began, his earnest gaze projecting total honesty, "You have to listen to me. Something is going on with Peter and the evidence points to a romantic interlude. Please sit back down and at least hear me out".

Realizing Neal wouldn't budge until she listened to his ridiculous '_theory',_ she grudgingly sat back down, crossing her arms defensively. Neal scooted his chair closer to the table, using his body language to project an aura of total sincerity and believability. This was one time that he would need to use his tricks-of-the-trade honestly.

"Where are the flowers?"

"What flowers?" El asked, suspicion coloring her tone. Neal's opening gambit had caught her off guard.

"Exactly!" Neal exclaimed, "I overheard Peter ordering a bouquet of flowers this morning."

"Maybe he's bringing them home to me later," El replied, adopting a nonchalant attitude.

"He wanted the card to say _'I've missed you'_. You yourself admitted you haven't been out of town in over a month. So ergo, the flowers are not for you."

Elizabeth glared at him, "I trust Peter. I think it's high time you do the same."

"Then why isn't he here?" Neal questioned harshly, "We both know what a workaholic he is. Never taking a day off, never leaving early. Except for today. He took a rare afternoon off, but he didn't come home to be with his wife. In fact, he didn't even tell you he was taking off."

His tone gentled, almost if he was feeling a tiny amount of guilt for the kernel of doubt that he was injecting into the Burke's marriage, "How often is he gone Elizabeth? How many late nights when you don't know where he is? He can't use chasing me as his excuse anymore."

"You asked me these very same questions not long ago," El replied, "You were wrong then and you are wrong now."

Ignoring her, Neal continued to produce his evidence, "Peter dropped me off at June's after lunch today. When I got out and reached for my keys I realized they had fallen out in his car. I flagged him down before he pulled away. When he rolled down his window to hand them to me I glanced at the GPS. He had entered his next destination as '_Linden_'."

At Elizabeth's perplexed look, he continued breaking her heart, "As in Linden Motor Inn over on Conduit Boulevard." Sarcasm dripped from his next words," Your guess is as good as mine as to what Peter might be doing there."

"Stop this Neal," she pleaded, "I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for all this."

Neal hardened his heart to her emotions, "I'm not finished Elizabeth." He pulled a page from a desk calendar out of his jacket pocket, "This is my piece-de-resistance. I got this off of Peter's desk before we left today. According to this, Peter has a 3:00 rendezvous with '_Nadine_'."

At Neal's mention of the name, Elizabeth's whole demeanor changed. She jumped up from her chair with an alarmed expression. "What day is it?" she demanded.

"Monday the 1st," Neal replied, mystified at her dramatic transformation.

"Oh Peter," she exclaimed softly, every syllable laced with heartache. She turned to a now thoroughly confused Neal Caffrey, a devastated expression etched on her face.


	3. Revelation

"You need to come with me," Elizabeth ordered firmly as she began gathering up her coat, purse and car keys.

A look of alarm passed over Neal's face as he nodded and waved his hands negatively replying, "I don't think that's a good idea. I wouldn't want to come between you and Peter."

"That ship has already sailed don't you think?" El retorted in a sarcasm laced tone, "I think it's only fair that you see this through to the end."

Instead of replying, Neal rose from the chair, put on his hat and indicated 'ladies first'. As they stepped outside, Elizabeth locked the front door behind them.

As she merged her car into traffic and turned unexpectedly at the first stop sign, Neal furrowed his brow in confusion, but wisely kept quiet. Neither spoke during the uncomfortable ride, which fortunately only lasted about fifteen minutes.

His smug, self-righteous attitude faltered as Elizabeth expertly wheeled the car into a parallel space behind Peter's Taurus. Looking through the wrought-iron fence labeling the area as "Linden Hill Cemetery, he saw Peter about fifty feet away kneeling with one hand on a simple headstone, the other hand holding a small bouquet of flowers.

He looked over at Elizabeth, astonishment and shame coloring his face. Elizabeth glared harshly at him, but seeing what she perceived as genuine remorse, took pity on him.

She bowed her head, taking a deep breath before raising her eyes to meet Neal's inquisitive gaze. "Eight years ago today I received the phone call that every agent's wife dreads. Peter had been involved in a shooting. I rushed to the hospital not knowing what I would find. What I found was my husband sitting shell-shocked, huddled on a hard plastic chair in the waiting room with blood soaking his clothes. I found his partner, _**Nadine**_," she emphasized the name for Neal's benefit, "in the morgue."

His agile mind quickly putting the pieces together, Neal couldn't reply for a long moment, caught up in his tumultuous emotions. Not trusting the steadiness of his own voice, he grasped Elizabeth's hand and squeezed it tightly in sympathy and regret. With a small squeeze of her own, she dove back into those painful memories and continued her story.

"Peter was too distraught to tell me what had happened. Reese Hughes told me a few days afterwards," Elizabeth shuddered as she recalled the horrible, tragic series of events, "Peter and Nadine had unknowingly interrupted a couple of punks robbing a convenience store. In the chaos of bullets flying from four guns, one of them drew a bead on Peter. With no time to shout a warning, Nadine threw herself in front of him. When the smoke cleared, there were two dead robbers and Peter was frantically trying to keep his partner alive. She never even made it to surgery. I have never seen Peter so despondent as I did that day and I hope to heaven that I never see that look on his face again."

Neal felt a stab of guilt as he watched several mascara tears roll down Elizabeth's cheek. He stole another glance over at Peter, still kneeling uncomfortably at the grave, seemingly oblivious to his watchers.

He didn't object as Elizabeth smoothly backed the car up and pulled onto the street. As uncomfortable as the drive over was, the drive to June's was twice as much so. Elizabeth's every sniffle and every tear caused Neal another twinge of shame for the pain he had inflicted to someone who not only was one of his staunchest allies, but also a close friend.

Pulling up to the curb, Elizabeth grabbed Neal's arm before he reached for the door handle. Ashamedly he started to murmur an apology. She waved him off, "I didn't tell you this to make you feel guilty. I told you this as an explanation of why Peter has been so uneasy working with a partner. It's not you," she grinned apologetically, "Well, maybe it is a little bit you." A serious tone returned to her voice as she tried to make Neal understand, "His partner gave her life for him. He doesn't want that to ever happen again. Especially not to a partner who has become a friend."

Neal looked startled at the admission. He started to reply when El cut him off, "Yes, Peter considers you a friend as do I. He wants to trust you, but you keep giving him and now me, reasons not to," she hesitated as if unsure about continuing, "I thought you trusted him too."

When faced with his recent involuntary confession of trust in Peter, Neal's gut reaction was to get out of the car as quickly as possible. As Elizabeth rolled down her window, Neal realized that she would accept no answer from him, short of the truth.

"I do," Neal admitted honestly.

"Then act like it," Elizabeth snapped as she shifted the car into drive and pulled away leaving behind a very contrite and very humbled, Neal Caffrey.

A/N: Thank you for all the kind reviews of this, my first WC story. Hopefully more will be in the works soon.

A/N: Linden Motor Inn and Linden Hill Cemetery are real locations in NYC. In fact, they are not very far apart. Without my discovery of this coincidence, this story would not have been written as I was striving for realism.


End file.
